A Nation of Staycationers

In case you hadn't heard, the word of the summer is "staycation."

A Factiva search yielded 458 mentions of the word in the past three months. During the same period last year, it only popped up in two stories.

During periods of economic duress, the staycation theory goes, more people forgo travel plans and spend their vacation time at home. A weak dollar, soaring airfare, and $4 gasoline don't exactly beckon a Griswold outing.

And the Federal Reserve would like you to know that it's observing the effects of the Staycation Summer in its regional economic reports.

In the Beige Book released today, the Fed referred to the concept without using the ubiquitous word: "Tourist activity was mixed, with residents in several Districts choosing to vacation closer to home due to high gasoline prices."

It's interesting to see how the staycation plays out across the country. Tourism in popular destinations was down, including places like Philadelphia, Chicago, and Hawaii. But tourist activity in areas that don't typically make the top-ten summer destination lists was strong, such as in Richmond, Minneapolis, and Kansas City.

This suggests that the locals in the less popular areas are taking time off from work to take in a museum or a play in their hometowns, while residents in the big tourist destinations might not be enough to keep the queues filled at their myriad sightseeing options.

New York City, by contrast, continues to bask in the glow of the weak dollar by drawing planes filled with European tourists. Manhattan hotel rooms remain in demand and Broadway shows are filled.

This has the unfortunate consequence of forcing us New York staycationers to stand in the TKTS lines, too.

by Megan Barnett